Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2015

Welcome!
It finally rained yesterday.

Isn't green a beautiful colour? I have chosen what to photograph very carefully but I don't really want to deceive you into thinking everything in my garden is wonderful.  

You see, it is suffering the consequences of some rash/uninformed choices that I have made. For example, in the photo above, to the left of the poorly-looking santolina and even behind the hibiscus lurk invasive mirabilis jalapa. After going to so much trouble to get some last year and enjoying the colours and perfume in the autumn, I now have the horrible task of trying to get rid of the few original plants plus all the little babies they have produced. If only my neighbour had told me how hard it was to get rid of last autumn!

Another problem is that the rose bed has too many plants, including an invasive mint but where are the roses? I haven't had time to do any dead-heading, so no blooms.

The lavenders have been a talking point for ages but all good things come to an end, too. Some of the middle branches have died, which means I will have to remove this damaged lavender soon.

Looking on the bright side, the bougainvillea looks pretty.

The agapanthus are blooming.

And here is my favourite plant for this bloom day - I believe it's yarrow Tansy (Thank you, pmbGarden). Last year it looked a bit puny but now it seems right at home. I have planted some more by the front wall but you can't really see them. I love the scented foliage, but now I've read that it's invasive. Oh dear!

Thank you to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day. Visit her blog to find beautiful June blooms.

Isn't it ironic?

Only a few weeks ago I had my Year 11 students read a text that began with the comment: "She's/he's very talented, just not very good at dealing with co-workers". Later, they had to write a composition giving advice on how to deal with difficult classmates or co-workers. It resulted in the best batch of compositions I got all year.

Unfortunately, dealing with unhelpful or downright mean colleagues or being labelled "difficult" myself when I try not to take their crap lying down is something I have experienced more frequently than is acceptable during the past 20 years in the teaching profession.